HOLY GUACAMOLE there are some major spoilers ahead for the novel Necropolis Immortal. Please come check this Spark Notes version out only after you finish a tomb arc and find yourself still confused as all hell.
Seriously, a lot of NECRO is built on mystery and intrigue, you’d be killing so much of the fun for yourself if you read ahead to everything.
There are INSANE SPOILERS in the summaries ahead.
Third time’s the charm, there are spoilers spoilers spoilers ahead. This summary is to enhance reading enjoyment of NECRO. I will delete it if it turns out to be detrimental instead.
You can also find a spoiler-free version of the cultivation system + geography of NECRO here, or a full version with massive spoilers here.
Mount Carmine Dusk (chapters 4-12)
Mountain contains a Crouching Black Tortoise feng shui layout. False entrance in the south (Black Tortoise’s rear). Lu Yun digs a thieves’ tunnel in the north to the real entrance, sees through a fake tomb facade.
First run-in with the Exalted Immortal Sect who are trying to take the Panorama of Clarity. First encounter with taboo art of soul sacrifice.
Undead encountered: Zombies, corpse flies, stone sculpture
Treasure obtained: Panorama of Clarity
Servant obtained: Pill Fairy Yuying (envoy), Ge Long (not an envoy)
Myriad Formation Summit (chapters 20-55)
The formations outside the mountain are a distraction, the real entrance is to be found after a maze. Inside the tomb, they encounter the bronze outer-coffin, a Ninefilia Specter Fostering formation (Yueshen), the entire ancient city that the mountain landed on, a layout of certain death that reveals Qing Han’s gender, realize they’re in a corpse coffin, bump into Miao who leads them past the living layout of the Duality of Tiger and Dragon, and finally, they run into Feinie’s resting place when trying to escape the undead hag.
LY realizes that the mountain is actually a huge burial mound (ch 22). A burial mound is much more humble than a tomb, it’s basically a pile of dirt. A tomb is a fancy underground palace (ch 23). It’s a very big insult to the dead if they’re buried in a mound when they deserve a tomb.
They bump into Yueshen (ch 30), the bloodcorpse (ch 33), and realize they’ve been inside a huge body all along (ch 32). LY realizes that the size ratio of dead:burial mound is off (ch 38) — the burial mound needs to be bigger to properly house the body they’re walking in.
Tying it all together: Yueshen was killed so that her corpse could be made into the coffin for a rando, and a tomb was built around the dead + corpse coffin. Seeking revenge, her friends and family destroy the tomb, downgrade it into a burial mound to insult the rando, and set up the Duality of Dragon and Tiger layout so the rando would never find peace. Their actions cause rando’s resentment and fury to fester so that it expands Yueshen’s body so massively that Lu Yun can walk around in it.
Yueshen’s friends also lovingly set up a resurrection layout to bring her soul soul back to life, and set up a formation (ch 33) to create a new body for her. However, another rando came in and messed up the resurrection layout, turning Yueshen into a ghost and the new body into the bloodcorpse.
Undead encountered: Bloodcorpses, corpsefish, ghostface maggots, corpse flies, undead hag
Treasure obtained: Portrait of Emptiness, Formation Orb, bronze outer-coffin
Servant obtained: Yueshen (immortal ghost), Dragon Prince and Tiger Prince (layout manifestations), Miao (fox spirit), Feinie – former Dusk city lord and formation master (envoy)
Tomb for the Living (chapters 62-91)
Lu Yun rushes to stop the Dusk River Sacrament to save Wanfeng. Setting foot into the river activates a formation, which brings forth an island. Upon completion of the ritual, the island sinks into the river, bringing them into an abyss littered with corpses of ancient divines.
The Dusk River Palace is at the bottom of the river bed, where a false river god resides. The corpse of the previous river god is also there (Xuanxi), and its lingering will comes back to life to protect the party. After being made an envoy, Xuanxi reveals that her mistress, the dragon princess, is the resident of the bronze outer-coffin.
Wayfarer shows up to save them from a divine obsession, but the group then encounters Eyefarer bound on the Walter Alter. They manage to leave him still trapped on the alter and return to the surface.
Undead encountered: corpsefish, zombie king, ghouls, zombies
Treasure obtained: Yin Formation Orb, Path of Ingress (imitation)
Servant obtained: Diexi (ally, not a servant), Xuanxi – previous Dusk river god (envoy)
Lu Yun’s envoys as of chapter 800, in order of chronology.
- Yuying – Pill Fairy and favors white robes. Wields the Emerald Mistfire (green), Lucent Voidfire (blue), Daevic Skyfire (bright yellow). Lovers with Wayfarer in life.
- Feinie – Formation King and former Duskwater City Lord. Favors black robes and often blows herself up in service to Lu Yun.
- Xuanxi – former Dusk River God, mermaid. Crystal-blue energy and specializes in talismans.
- Aoxue – blood dragon adept at close-body combat.
- Huangqing – blood phoenix skilled at refining items.
- Cangyin – patriarch of the water qilins. Later made into a blood qilin through experimentation from Su Xiaoxiao and Xingzi.
- Su Xiaoxiao – Doctor Poison, Qi Hai’s (banished) disciple. Inky-green energy.
- Xingzi – shaman princess of the Star Shaman Tribe.
- Luli – blood turtle. Fully melded with her blood turtle self in her past life and wreaked untold destruction.
- Zhaoqing – daughter of the immortal emperor, found in the lineal tomb at the end of the Path of the Dead
Lu Yun’s envoy lineup is complete at 10 envoys, whereupon they turn into the 10 Yama Kings.